The essential points in a well-made chair are comfort, lightness, and
strength. Of course, as men and women are pretty much of the same
proportion all over the world, chairs, of which the seat is about the
height of the lower process of the human knee-joints, must be of the
same height, or but slightly varied, in every country. From the habit
that so many persons have of throwing their whole weight back and, as
we are told, in some countries, of balancing their persons on the back
legs of their chairs and inclining their legs in the direction of the
chimneypiece, there is often an immense strain on the back joints of
chairs. Whether we lean back or swing on them, the junction of the
seats of chairs with the backs is always subject to severe trials; and
on no article of furniture in common use is such good joinery
required. It is worth while to look at the old wall paintings of the
Egyptians, as they are given in Rossellini and the great French book
of the 'Description de l'Egypte,' to see what capital workmanship
those most ancient carpenters bestowed on their chairs. Those of the
best and oldest periods are without connecting bars to the legs before
or behind, all the strength of the construction being centred in the
excellence of the joints of the seat with the back and legs; and in
modern workshops, the highest skill is applied to ensure strength in
these points of junction. If the wood is thoroughly dry, the mortises
and tenons fitting perfectly, and the glue good, the different parts
are so wedded together that the whole structure becomes one piece, as
if nature had made a vegetable growth in that fashion, all the fibres
of which have continuous and perfect contact with each other. If,
however, there is a deficiency in any of these conditions, these
joints fail. If the wood shrinks, or the tenons do not fit the
mortises all through, or the glue is deficient, these various portions
speedily come to pieces. Sofas, couches, and stuffed chairs are so
much more massive in construction that there need be no risk of such a
kind of disintegration.
The members of which a chair is made up may be either turned in the
lathe, or left massive enough to allow of carving on the legs, backs,
or round the framework of the seat. Turned work can be lightly inlaid
with ivory, as that of ancient Egypt, painted, gilt, or mounted
(lightly also) with metal.
The subjects of the carving may be either figures of men, horses,
lions, or the heads and legs of such animals, acanthus leaves, and
arabesques. Many of these ornaments have been used from ancient times,
and revived at various historical periods. For modern rooms the
lightest construction is most in place, and therefore carving should
be compact in composition and delicate in execution, without
prominences or undercutting that would interfere with comfort or be
liable to breakage.
A certain architectural character is given to chairs by cutting
flutings down the legs, or by borrowing other slight details from
architecture. The upholstery of chairs will always be their most
noticeable decoration, and this applies still more to lounging chairs
and couches of all shapes and sizes, as the framework of them is so
much less observable in proportion to their upholstered surfaces.
Tables, lampstands, &c., being generally, though not always, meant to
be moved about, require as light a construction as is consistent with
strength. The surface of all but small tables is beyond the dimensions
of a single plank of wood. The outer and inner portions of a log or
plank are of different fineness of grain, contain varying proportions
of sap, and shrink in different degrees. Single planks of wood,
therefore, can only be exceptionally used for table tops. Generally,
they are made up of portions of planks selected with great care,
grooved on the edges, with a tongue or slice of wood cut the cross way
of the grain, uniting the planks about the middle of their thickness;
the edges are then firmly glued together. If the surface is to be of
wood which can be procured in large pieces of straight or continuous
grain, such as mahogany, the wood is solid throughout; if of some rare
wood or rare figured graining, such as the roots or wens of oak, this
ornamental surface is laid on in thin slices with glue and heavy
pressure. This is known as _veneering_. The surface is sometimes
inlaid with ivory, metal, mother-of-pearl, slices of agate and other
substances, as in the Boulle or marquetry work already alluded to.
The frame of the table is either a deep rail not far within the edge,
or a thick pillar or leg or several legs collected, mortised into a
broad expanding foot and supporting a spreading framework above, to
which the top itself can be fastened, and stretching far enough all
round in the direction of the edges to give a firm support.
The decoration of the top can only be superficial if the table is for
use, and any decoration by carving, piercing, and so on, must be
confined to the framework and the supports. These parts can be, and
have been at all times decorated as the framework of chairs, and by
very much the same kinds of ornament.
To tables of more modern periods, little galleries of pierced work or
of tiny balustrades are sometimes added. They belong to the age of
porcelain collectors, hoops, broad coat-skirts, and tea-parties, and
are intended to save delicate wares from being swept to the ground.
Side tables, and such as are made to support heavy objects, can be
treated with more massive frame work and supports, and the carving and
decorations will be bolder and larger accordingly.